May 29, 2012

hi ho hi ho!

hahah im sorry dad but i think watching you chase down that tractor would be funnier than lyndi crying... now i wasnt there but i can just picture it in my mind hahahhaa. oh what a sight that would be. i just picture it happening to grampy and it looking pretty simular.... hahahhaha just kidding! your not quite as old as grampy yet dont worry.... im just be saingisaingy. but it was çe bien as we say here if we wanna make fun of the french people.... not that we do that. its just everybody here asumes we are french and starts talking to us in french. so to keep it going i like to spout out every french word i know and see how long i can keep them thinking we are french hahahaha. its fun. and im learning some french in the process wich is cool.

so i bet emily was way busy this whole week! and thats why she had no time to write me and tell me ALL about it hahahha. but im sure with her down time this week she can tell me a little more.... lol but seriously i bet the play was great and that rugby was even better! i wish i was there to watch and play along! and thats way weird that mitch is home already not gunna lie. haha it doesnt feel like he left that long ago. makes me think of how soon i will really get home. the closer i get to my year mark the shorter and shorter it feels... its weird. really weird. haha but how is mitch doin? i bet its even weirder for him being home. you really get used to life as a missionary. haha. wich im sure you dad are well aware of. make sure you tell him i say hey!

i bet robyn and bevan are way excited to move into there new home! not sayin that those dogs upstairs were annoying.... but they were freakin annoying! hahaha speaking of dogs our niebours just got to yappers..... they start going at about 9 at night or so. and wake us up about about 12 -1 in the morning just barkin away. i know im supposed to have charity but i wanna pick those things up and punt them like a rugby ball. they drive me nuts! hahah but im sure yall had fun moving them!

yesterday was pentacost wich is about religion so obviously all of madagascar has to shut down and get drunk..... so that is why i am emailing today. because there was nothing open yesterday. but yesterday we did something even funner! there is a certain type of rodeo here in madagascar called savika omby. wich is cow wrestling. and on easter and pentacost it is really really big in a town called ambositra wich is about 100 km south of us. and because i am a zone leader and because our president is finishing up his mission we planned a zone trip to go watch this cow wresteling!! it is way freakin cool and president donnelly came with us and watched and everything and it was fun. it all worked out pretty perfect wich is rare here in mada. but the cows here have a hump on there back kinda like a camel and what they do is hit it with a bunch of sticks and then liek 20 guys get in the ring and work there way around this cow so that they can jump onto the side of it and hold onto this hump untill the cow stops jumping. i have pictures and videos of it! way cool. i dont have the camera with me today but i will send you a ton of pictures next week i promise. so that is what i did yesterday! things as a zoneleader are going great. i did skip the district leader stage but i could still be one who knows. i dont know. but it will be very interesting to be a zoneleader while the new president president adams comes in about a month because there is alot of pressure put on us to kinda be the bridge and keep work going. but i may not even be a zone leader by then...; who knows. i hope to get transfered on june 21st because i have been in my area a long time. by the time june 21st comes along it will be 6 months exactly. thats a long time hahaha. but i wanna change. change is good. like a coast hahahahhahaha. that'd be nice.

oh ya. so in the package you sent you put 2 gift cards in there. but they dont work... hahaha i dont know but they might not have an international lock on them. but if you wanna give me extra spending money just put it through that mastercard account. that would work best. then just tell me that you put money in there. i took 100 out just yesterday cause i ran out of alotment but that should last me a long time.... sorry. the rest of the stuff in the package is awesome. the camera works great!!! ive been taking a ton of pictures. and those bike shorts were a life saver as the car stayed in tana and we road 270 km in a span of 4 days.... haha elder prochnow just loved that.... well i love you all. and i love this work! thanks for the scriptures mom!

be fitiavana mandrakizay
elder bates




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Madagascar

May 21, 2012

hey fam/the world (thats right, the whole world reads my emails)

haha austen gave his fairwell?? thats way cool. i bet the church was just packed with people for that kid. does he enter this wednesday or next? 

im sure things have been quieter since lyndi and kasper left! but im sure you all miss them. haha and i was sad to inform lyndi that i was the one who polished off the rubarb cake..... she will just have to wait till next time i quess!! hahahahaha no but seriously its not funny guys..... its just a hormonal thing. seriously stop laughing, ok that enought. no seriously..... haha ok so i guess its pretty funny... hahahahahaha but im not going to lie i think it would be funnier to watch dad try to run afer that walk behind....... seeing as its been a while since ive actually seen him run........ bahahahahhahahaha i would have rather seen that than lyndi crying over cake. i would cry to if all the rubarb cake was gone. that stuff is just to dang good! but seeing my dad chase down a tractor would have been priceless!!!!! lol 

emily seems busy as ever. wich im sure is adding some uneeded stess to here life... breathe in;;;;; breath out..... hahahahha i love you emily! hang in there. 

dallin and colter both send me pictures of there chuman fos! haha i am a little jealous i cant join them in growing one. because lets face it. i dont think it would fill in quite as good hahaha

but things with me here are good. i am jdoing alot of less active work right now because there are a lot of less actives and not many houses to tract or refferalls coming in.... but me and my companion are actually about to drive to antananarivo for a zonleader training tomorrow so that should be exciting seeing as i havent been there for about 5 months haha. itsll be weird but hopefully my package will be there in the office!! along with some long awaited letters. but we will see. 

but thats about all i can think to write about. i love you all. thanks mom for the scriptrues! 

be fitiavana mandrakizay

elderbates

May 14, 2011- Mother's Day Telephone Convo

So for all LDS missionaries thier main method of communication with their families is through email or written letters. There are two dates that missionaries are permited to talk to their families, this can even include skype video calls for some. So as Mother's Day is one of those dates we were able to talk to Riley yesterday (not with skype) and it was great! I will try to write what we all talked about and hopefully I don't miss to many details.

He is sounding fantastic and he is getting the hang of the Malagasy language. There were a few times in the conversation where he would forget the english word for something and have to think about it for a second. He is getting along great with his new companion, Elder Prochnow, and they are working hard as the active Zone Leaders for now. Riley says they are living in what is considerd a very nice house for Madagascar, as rent is relatively cheap there and so it doesn't take much to be comfortable. A few of the siblings requested that he sing us a song, as his voice hasn't rung through the walls of the house for a while. So he picked "When the Stars go Blue" (not really sure if that is the actual title of the song) and belted it out over the phone lines for us, we all really appreciated it.

He had a lot of baptisms this past Saturday, nine of them I think. He said they have been busy teaching and tracking and it has truly blessed many people. Riley also reminded us of how studly he is looking these days, he has lost quite a bit of weight, and can now do two whole pull ups! Much of his weight loss was due to a parasite he was carrying, but he recently flushed it out and told me he figured that it would be about the length of his forearm all stretched out (ew), he also made it sound like there was more than one that came out of him (double ew). He assures us he is well and healthy now though, and even kind of missing is wormy friends as he says he feels "heavier" now, haha.

His mission will be getting a new mission president this summer, and I should have written down the name cause I already forget who it is. But I will try to remember to get the info from Ri in his next email. Riley is looking forward to meeting his new president but says he will miss the current one as he has grown to love and appreciate him.

*Mission Presidents for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints serve for three years. Riley has an Aunt and Uncle who were just called to serve in the Ukraine Dnepropretrovsk Mission, and will be serving there mission this July till July 2015.

Riley told us that it is currently winter in Madagascar and that the temperature stays around 15 degrees celcius. Riley says it doesn't bother him much, it's not that cold to him. But his companion thinks its pretty chilly as he comes from one of the warmer southern states.

At the moment their church meetings are being held in a barn.
He eats a lot of rice.
He still has a great sense of humour.
He is loving his mission,
and missses his family.

It was great to get to talk to him and we all miss him lots, but are very proud of him and his dedication and hard work. He sounds like he is a great missionary and blessing many lives in Madagascar. We are already looking forward to Christmas, when we will be able to talk to him on the phone again. But until then we will continue to write him and pray for him.

May 7, 2012

hi hoe hi hoe. its off to work we go.

so first off my health is good! well better than it was. i had a worm this past week.... it suckd! but thats ok. i took worm medicine and its gone. how do i know that its gone? i just do ;) hahaha but i got a bunch of malagasies laughing telling them about it so its worth it i guess. but dont worry i am healthy! doin 2 pull ups a day. at least haha. gettin all bokina! hahaha but its good. also we had 9 baptisms this past saturday! woo hoo! and i got 10 times that next sunday hahahha. i just like to work. sitting around sucks! hahahah but im doing good. i guess i should let you know about transfers as well. i am staying in manandona but my new companions name is elder prochnow. and all i know about him is he is a marine. very strict. but a great guy. hard worker. so we should get along great. i also got made a zone leader. so i get to pay the bills hahha. elder prochnow is a zoneleader with me though so it wont be such a work load. but thats about all thats new here with me in madagascar. plus if there is ill just tell you on sunday. sorry to all those who read my blog and cant talk to me on mothers day. 1 year and 3 months then you can see this beautiful face again. hahahhahahahaa

but it sounds like the family is all doing good! you alls had fun moving lyndi and playing rugby wich is good. sorry theres not much for me to really write. the package hasnt come yet. havent gotten a letter for a while hahahhaa. but other than that nothin new. i love you all and cant wait to talk to you in a week.

so heres how that will all go down. your going to call me around ? oclock in the morning there. or ?00 at night here. and then we will talk. you will call me on this number- xxxxxxxxx and it should go through. and we can have a gay old conversation

be fitiavana mandrakizay
elder bates


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Madagascar